Craig Spence Posted May 5, 2010 Share Posted May 5, 2010 Hi all, I have an ST Models MX2 and it is a fantastic plane. However the undercarriage is super crap lol!, even when i have greased it in Ive always heard a crack but never see any damage but today it has snapped away from the foam. So has anyone got one and how have they solved this problem?. Cheers all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aslan Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Epoxy a strip of ply over the existing mount. When it cures, drill two holes through the ply and through the fuse. Epoxy dowels into the holes all the way through. This will "tie" the new ply mount to the old one and the fuse. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Spence Posted May 6, 2010 Author Share Posted May 6, 2010 Hi Aslan, I wish I got this last night lol!, through impatience I have already done something. Basically the mount with the foam had ripped completely free but was still attached, because I didnt want to do much more damage as the undercarriage is so near the wing I disconnected the carriage by unscrewing the screws. Then I wicked in epoxy, seems very simple but it has worked a treat, the cracks went through to the other side of the foam and the epoxy has formend a little mini block. Like an undercarriage mount lol!, I remounted the undercarriage and it seems stronger than it ever was, but then saying that it was never that strong to begin with lol!. I suppose the proofs in the pudding and ill be taking it out this weekend, If it fails again I will be useing a foam cutter to make a slip cut in the exsisting undercarriage slot forward and aft and then slip a wide peice of ply in there. Hopefully it wont come to this. Cheers Aslan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aslan Posted May 6, 2010 Share Posted May 6, 2010 Sounds like a good fix Craig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted September 1, 2010 Share Posted September 1, 2010 Craig, I got one of these and like you, I gave the undercarriage a particularly hard stare and it fell off - really awful quality. I went to town and built up the plastic mounting plate with new ply - one piece to fit between the two legs of the existing 'bulkhead' the other two to slot down either side. Epoxied the whole lot in and went flying. On landing the undercarriage was fine, the plane nosed over and the bulkhead where the motor was mounted snapped. I've had a look carefully at the ply that's been used in this model and it's total rubbish - In it's defence it flies well but anything but a perfect landing and something is going to break. In all my model buying / building experience to date this is the money I most regret spending. I've bought a fair few ARTF's to date and it seems you get what you pay for - Multiplex and Parkzone are expensive but the design and general quality are light years ahead of this (Wish I'd gone for the Parkzone Extra) Tony PS As a general comment have you noticed how u/c tends to be mounted across the fuselage in most nearly every model out when it's a longitudinal force that's exerted in on it on landing i.e. it's strong if hit from the side but weakest when hit from the front...? Surely the plate it's mounted to should be long from front to back..? Odd isn't it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Now I'm really fed up. Took the plane apart, reinforced the motor mount, reinforced the u/c and took it out flying. Flew beautifully - faultless in fact. Landed on the road,and the uc broke off ....again (it wasn't a very hard landing though the wheels did hit a bit of the grass verge but this was at a very slow speed). The plane dropped forwards and the motor mount broke. The quality of this kit is tragic! Unless you have a glass sheet to come down on I can't see how this uc can survive more than a couple of landings!!! Certainly you'll need a bowling green if you land on grass.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Spence Posted October 7, 2010 Author Share Posted October 7, 2010 Hi Tony, I have sold mine on now. Its flys great but the undercarriage is no good. I flew mine one day and greased it in and the undercarriage came off lol!, so it doesent matter how you land it, there's just not enough surface to surface area for the stregth. To tell you the truth I have now totally gone off ARTF's and have strated building more planes, they fly great and you have a great sense of achievement after the maiden flight. There's a fun fly kit out which was in RCME and I will be buying that at some point next year. Hope it all works out mate. Craig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Hmmmm...Not surprised about the MX2. Hope you didn't give a warranty.... Given how much I enjoy the building and fiddling I guess I'll be carving into mine soon with a view to improving the motor mount and uc support. Turns out I bought a build it yourself kit after all !!! LOL I know what you mean about building though. I have the Gloster to finish (rebuilding a new wing set after a mishap with some PolyC and untreated balsa ) and then I'm thinking a Spit or a Sea Fury.... I was reading Myron's post before about his getting a bit fed up with ARTFs etc and I guess that why we have winter - lots of dark nights to cosy up to a new set of plans, some balsa and glue and bit of head scratching What's on the bench for you..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Spence Posted October 8, 2010 Author Share Posted October 8, 2010 No warranty at all in fact, I sold it with the undercarriage broken off for next to nothing lol!, I just got fed up of looking at it, it hand launches fine but I just thought it became ugly and I could not do a long lasting repair without ripping the plane to bits. The Gloster sounds a good project, very interesting plane, real Spits look great but model ones never seem to impress me for some reason, it seems that even the top builders ones look off to me. But thats just me and the way I see them. At the moment I am building a Brain Taylor DH Mosquito, quite tricky but fun. I also have an own design project waiting to be finished lol!. After that I am putting some real consideration into getting a Large Hurricain kit, 80" if I can afford the stuff with it. Your right about the winter as well, however I still get the same flying days in just less hours, I actually prefer flying in winter because of light conditions and I also appreciate a little wind to challenge me, I cant stand smoldering days at the patch as its uncomfortable. All the best Tony. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JayCee Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Great tip Aslan I did something very similar. 1/4" ply epoxy and doweled, but before fixing in place installed 2 X M4 captive nuts recessed into the back of the 1/4" ply, then fix the undercarriage with 20mm M4 Nylon bolts! Very successful...........just carry some spare M4 fixing bolts <grin> JCEdited By JayCee on 09/10/2010 13:19:02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Well chaps - this is my fix - Industrial, quick, cheap and I hope bomb-proof!! First I popped to B&Q and bought some 2mm aluminium strip - £3.55/ m and I used 1/3 so about £1.20. Then I cut a couple of equal lengths (in this case 17cm) and filed the sharp bits off. I then trimmed the plastic uc mount so that the alu strip could sit flush. Then I used a bit of scrap 2mm balsa to make a fillet for the bit btw the new strips. Drilled the strips and screwed the whole lot together using a machine bolt and washer. Added a few grammes of weight but given the power to weight of the motor / model it seems a small price to pay for a, hopefully permanent fix!! Pics below: I'll then use clear packing tape to tape the alu strip to the bottom of the fuze. I I could be bothered I could cut the alu strip into channels and cover with white SolarTrim! Now it will have to be a heavy landing to break this repair! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Right, Main UC finished and stuck now to the motor mount.... First I need to cut open the fuse and extract the old one. Then I need to replace the original motor mount with something much stronger - I'm thinking a sheet of A4 paper, or a Kraft cheese slice...... Sadly, the motor mount glues onto a small flange of foam and this is now broken so I need to rethink the mount...ho hum... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Motor mount repair... First remove original, draw around and cut out new ply mount. Mark motor cut-out and mounting holes. Cut smaller, second mounting plate. Ensure grain is in the opposite direction to first for max strength. Cut out weight saving and vent holes. Mount motor.... Notch the bottom to let the motor wires through. And Robert's your mother's brother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 9, 2010 Share Posted October 9, 2010 Then fly,.......listen to either a bent prop shaft or unbalanced prop vibrate the whole thing loose , watch the canopy fall off mid flight and then wait until the motor detaches in flight and the whole lot descends into the nearest ploughed field.... Which is pretty much what happened. However, one UC strut was very badly bent in the crash but the mounting plate stayed fixed, didn't break and a good bend should see the whole thing fixed (which is more than I can say for the motor and mount... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Spence Posted October 10, 2010 Author Share Posted October 10, 2010 Hi Tony, I must say I like your perserverance lol!, it is a good model minus the undercarriage. May I suggest something I thought of, I never did this because I have other things on which are deserved of my time lol!. If you have a foam cutter you could try this. Measure the width of the front of the fuse just in front of the exsisting undercarriage. Taylor make a undercarriage with 8 gauge wire the same as you would do for a fun fly, but I would have the wheels pointing alot more in front of the leading edge than they already are, this really wouldent be a problem for landing. At the top of your undercarriage which you would normally attach with saddle clamps, place a ply plate either side of each wire (4 plates), fill the gaps with scrap balsa glue in place with epoxy or thick superglue. Here's the horrible bit, cut channels for the plates, insert undercarriage and glue in place, fill remaining gaps with scrap foam. I belive this would be the only way which will last the test of time, its alot of work hence the reason I did not crack on with it and sold it lol!. This way you have a lot more surface area for shocks and next to no movement on the base, plus the wire has a certain amount of flex. Hope it all works out mate. Craig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Hi Craig, Thanks for this however the fix I did definitely works - ask me how I know.... Yesterday, after crashing horribly due to the motor ripping itself out because of a bent prop shaft it went in and bent the RH landing strut back a good 4 inches - but it remained solidly attached to the mount!! This isn't going anywhere.. Spent last night reattaching the motor mount, fitting a new Turnigy motor and prop adapter and - apart from not yet managing to locate the canopy that flew off mid-flight, I'm ready to go again. Well, In fairness to ST Models - it's given me hours of work building and re-building Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Craig Spence Posted October 10, 2010 Author Share Posted October 10, 2010 Hi Tony, sorry I did read the post just didnt understand it lol!. Glad its worked though, just need to get the firewall and motor sorted now lol!. Did the motor rip the firewall off?, I did actually think off takeing measurements of the plane and taking photos to try my hand at making a balsa one, it does fly great. I might buy the ARTF one from global models as the kit forms are more expensive. Cheers Tony, chin up. Craig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 All done Craig, New motor, new mount, and the thing flies like a charm - I also landed it and guess what - the UC stayed on!!! The Global models 30CC (small version0 is 1860mm wingspan compared with the 1210 of the ST Models so a reasonable bit bigger. Would be nice to see it fly... Go on....you know you want to... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephen Grigg Posted October 10, 2010 Share Posted October 10, 2010 Its interesting reading this thread,because on the Fun Cub all they have is a triangular plastic plate that glues on to the bottom of the fuz,with 2 prongs pushing into the Elapor and one screw which holds the wire u/c in place between a couple of guides to hold it in place and it works fine.The only damage to the u/c was by me bending it straight,breaking the mount and it cyanoed back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 16, 2010 Share Posted October 16, 2010 Hi Chaps, If anyone has had one of these and crashed it beyond repair I'd be very interested in buying the canopy off you. Mine parted company with the plane due to the vibration from a bent prop shaft and although I saw it flutter down it disappeared behind some farm buildings and I've not been able to find it . Now I've fitted my industrial UC it's flying really well so it would be a shame not to have it complete. Thanks T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill_B Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 You can get all ST Model spares (including the MX2 canopy) from Ripmax, but they ain't cheap. http://www2.ripmax.net/item.asp?itemid=Z-STM05H&Category=110 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Thanks Gumball. Given the shoddy build quality of this plane I was rather hoping there may be a few bit knocking around at a reasonable price.. Still, given the overwhelming response I may have to fork out...HOW MUCH!! It doesn't even have a clear plastic screen like the original... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delta Whiskey Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 Mine finally bit the dust yesterday, I think, one of the wings completely snapped off after a nose dive straight in, but I may see if I can glue it back for one last go before binning it, been a great plane for me as I have certainly been hammering it around. Check my thread on this model, it shows the u/c being modified exaclty as described in the 2nd reply by Aslan ! Edited By Delta Whiskey on 17/10/2010 20:55:20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyS Posted October 17, 2010 Share Posted October 17, 2010 DW, I genuinely hope that you get her flying again - You can buy new wings etc - £36 I believe. If you give up on it however, I'll happily buy the canopy off you. As for the UC - mines sorted thanks - there's no way that's going anywhere now! T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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